When I was going to try and improve my double bass I was going to use this but ever got round to it, I'm sure it could help you as well. Just click on Page 1 of the 16-Week Double Bass Control and Workout.

I find a good technique is to play all the things that you would normally play on your right foot, on your left instead. If you're right footed and that is how you began as a drummer, switch that around until your left foot can do all the basic drum beats that your right foot doesn't take much energy or skill to accomplish.

To be honest, though, the best way to build up endurance is to practise at a slower speed until your calf muscles burn. Then when they've stopped burning and calmed down a little bit, do it again. It's the same principle as when you're working out. Work until it burns, taking short breaks between each repetition, then let it heal over night. Your muscles will be stronger.

Of course, it's also imperative that you practise to a drum machine, metronome or a band. I also recommend that you switch your patterns up. This video helped me a lot. The way he works with burst beats is incredible and certainly helps with your playing as it adds groove and dimension and helps you avoid the pitfalls of double bass drumming:

And a follow up question, I drum with a really loose tension on my double bass pedals and was wondering if tighter tension can actually improve my endurance.

I usually practice an 1 hour a day now (opposed to 3 hours a day when I had no job) so any tips to maximize this for double bass practice?

1.) Yes2.) Um, I guess, but if you prefer the feel of it and you play heel up then there's really no reason to change the spring tension. A lot of people max out their spring tension because it makes the beater snap back from the head faster though it also means you lose power.3.) If you practice effectively then half an hour is more than enough.

However, skip the hands + hands and feet part, and just do the part with the feet. When he says four count rest, he means rest for four counts and then go to the next fifth of the exercise (so the first 2 minutes, rest for 4 metronome counts, then the second 2 minutes, etc.)

What I'd recommend doing for this is finding a tempo which is completely comfortable, below the maximum speed you can maintain without screwing up. Firstly, this may sound silly, but sit down on a chair, like a normal chair one would sit in to eat dinner, and play it on the floor, without pedals, just hitting your feet on the ground. Make sure that you're using leg motion entirely, or letting your hip flexors lift the leg up and then back down. Make sure your foot is entirely level (flat footed) so that every part of your foot rises up at the same time. Something which helps for this is kind of locking your ankle in place (but still being relaxed, not tense), and also positioning your legs so that they're at a 90 degree angle from your body.

After you've played the first exercise the whole way through, I would recommend playing it at a higher tempo which is also comfortable for you on the floor, and then maybe play the exercise all the way through again at the second tempo. Once you're done (it's up to you how long this takes) just do whatever else you feel like doing in whatever amount of time you have to practice. For the Roddy exercise you can also play it with a beat on top (or just mimicking a beat with sticks) though it's not necessarily. It will improve your balance with you do.

Some other things to keep in mind is that for faster double bass (140+ bpm), especially at tempos that are challenging for you, the entire weight of your body should be resting on your butt. Don't lean forward at all because that will put weight on your legs and make it harder to move them back upwards. Also, when I'm sitting like that I like to arch my back a little bit, nothing extreme, but I find it's a bit more comfortable.

With anything relating to endurance, it's always important to play for long periods of time, without stopping, though I guess that kind of goes without saying. Mostly anything will help with endurance if you just try to push the amount of time you do them for. Also, ALWAYS PRACTICE WITH A METRONOME!!!!!!1

But yes, would highly recommend the Roddy + Kollias exercises, though the Roddy one more so. I've had better results with it. The Kollias one is more designed for people who have an intermediate speed (160-180) and want to get to the next level, which is usually 200 bpm.